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| U.S. Outlines N.S.A.’s Culling of Data for All Domestic Calls | U.S. Outlines N.S.A.’s Culling of Data for All Domestic Calls |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Wednesday released formerly classified documents outlining a once-secret program of the National Security Agency that is collecting records of all domestic phone calls in the United States, as top officials testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. | WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Wednesday released formerly classified documents outlining a once-secret program of the National Security Agency that is collecting records of all domestic phone calls in the United States, as top officials testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. |
| As the hearing began, The Guardian newspaper published another document from the archives of Top Secret surveillance matters leaked to it by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden. It was a 32-page presentation describing the N.S.A.'s XKeyscore program, by which N.S.A. analysts can mine vast databases of phone and Internet information the agency has vacuumed up. | |
| The documents released by the government, meanwhile, include an April ruling by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that supported a secondary order — also leaked by Mr. Snowden — requiring a Verizon subsidiary to turn over all of its customers’ phone logs for a three-month period. | |
| It said the government may access the logs only when an executive branch official determines that there are “facts giving rise to a reasonable, articulable suspicion” that the number searched is associated with terrorism. | It said the government may access the logs only when an executive branch official determines that there are “facts giving rise to a reasonable, articulable suspicion” that the number searched is associated with terrorism. |
| The releases also included two formerly classified briefing papers to Congress from 2009 and 2011, when the provision of the Patriot Act that the court relied on to issue that order was up for reauthorization. The papers outlined the bulk collection of “metadata” logging all domestic phone calls and e-mails of Americans and are portrayed as an “early warning system” that allowed the government to quickly see who was linked to a terrorism suspect. | |
| “Both of these programs operate on a very large scale,” the 2011 briefing paper said, followed by something that is redacted, and then: “However, as described below, only a tiny fraction of such records are ever viewed by N.S.A. intelligence analysts.” | “Both of these programs operate on a very large scale,” the 2011 briefing paper said, followed by something that is redacted, and then: “However, as described below, only a tiny fraction of such records are ever viewed by N.S.A. intelligence analysts.” |
| Both programs traced back to the surveillance efforts the Bush administration secretly started after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and which initially operated outside statutory authority or court oversight. The Bush administration later obtained orders from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to continue them. | Both programs traced back to the surveillance efforts the Bush administration secretly started after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and which initially operated outside statutory authority or court oversight. The Bush administration later obtained orders from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to continue them. |
| The Obama administration has said it shut down the program that collected e-mail “metadata” in 2011, but it is not clear whether such collection has continued under a different program. | The Obama administration has said it shut down the program that collected e-mail “metadata” in 2011, but it is not clear whether such collection has continued under a different program. |
| The newly disclosed XKeyscore presentation focuses in particular on Internet activities, including chats and Web site browsing activities, as intelligence analysts search for terrorist cells by looking at “anomalous events” like who is using encryption or “searching the web for suspicious stuff.” | |
| In contrast to the domestic-call tracking program, the example cited in the XKeyscore presentation — which said it had generated intelligence that resulted in the capture of more than 300 terrorists — appeared to be focused on overseas activity. | |
| Several of the pages on the presentation were redacted by The Guardian. | |
| But the presentation shows that while much of the focus from Mr. Snowden’s revelations so far has been on communications — whether calls or e-mails — that are linked, directly or indirectly, to a known suspect, the N.S.A. is also collecting and searching through massive amounts of Web-browsing activity. | |
| “A large amount of time spent on the Web is performing actions that are anonymous,” the presentation explains, saying the XKeyscore system can extract and store retrospective activity from “raw unselected bulk traffic” that is collected and stored for 30 days. | |
| As one example, it cited trying to locate for a target who speaks German but is known to be in Pakistan by looking for German-language Internet activity in that country. As another, a slide said: “My target uses Google Maps to scope target locations — can I use this information to determine his e-mail address? What about the Web-searches — do any stand out and look suspicious?” | |
| At the start of Wednesday’s hearing, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, expressed deep skepticism about the domestic phone records program. He criticized intelligence officials and defenders of the program for misleadingly saying it helped prevent 54 terrorist events, a number that conflates the usefulness of N.S.A. surveillance activities targeted at noncitizens abroad with the usefulness of the database of Americans’ phone calls. | |
| A classified list of “terrorist events” that N.S.A. surveillance helped to prevent, he said, “simply does not reflect dozens or even several terrorist plots” that the domestic call log program “helped thwart or prevent, let alone 54, as some have suggested.” | |
| Citing the “massive privacy implications” of the program, Mr. Leahy said: “If this program is not effective it has to end. So far I’m not convinced by what I’ve seen.” | Citing the “massive privacy implications” of the program, Mr. Leahy said: “If this program is not effective it has to end. So far I’m not convinced by what I’ve seen.” |
| But Senator Dianne Feinstein, the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee who is also on the judiciary panel, said that while the program could be changed with greater restrictions and safeguards, it should be preserved because it would place the nation “in jeopardy” to eliminate it. | |
| Robert Litt, the top lawyer in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, testified that the Obama administration was also “open to re-evaluating this program” to create greater public confidence that it protects privacy while “preserving the essence of the program.” | Robert Litt, the top lawyer in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, testified that the Obama administration was also “open to re-evaluating this program” to create greater public confidence that it protects privacy while “preserving the essence of the program.” |
| Last week, the House of Representatives voted narrowly to defeat an amendment to shut down the N.S.A.'s domestic phone record tracking program. The 217-to-205 vote was far closer than expected and came as members of both parties defied their leadership to oppose continuing the domestic call logging program, suggesting that momentum against it was building. | Last week, the House of Representatives voted narrowly to defeat an amendment to shut down the N.S.A.'s domestic phone record tracking program. The 217-to-205 vote was far closer than expected and came as members of both parties defied their leadership to oppose continuing the domestic call logging program, suggesting that momentum against it was building. |
| Before Mr. Snowden’s leaks made clear what the government was doing with the Patriot Act program, several senators on the Intelligence Committee had made cryptic warnings that it was interpreting the law in a twisted way to do something alarming and made reference to the 2011 briefing paper. The New York Times filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain that document. | Before Mr. Snowden’s leaks made clear what the government was doing with the Patriot Act program, several senators on the Intelligence Committee had made cryptic warnings that it was interpreting the law in a twisted way to do something alarming and made reference to the 2011 briefing paper. The New York Times filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain that document. |
| The lawsuit contended that the abstract legal analysis outlining what the government believed the Patriot Act meant could not be withheld from the public as properly classified and should be released, even if the passages detailing the program that relied upon that interpretation was redacted. | The lawsuit contended that the abstract legal analysis outlining what the government believed the Patriot Act meant could not be withheld from the public as properly classified and should be released, even if the passages detailing the program that relied upon that interpretation was redacted. |
| The Obama administration had argued that it could withhold that document entirely, and in May 2012 a Federal District Court judge, William H. Pauley III, agreed to dismiss the lawsuit after reading the briefing paper, finding that the details of the classified program were “inextricably intertwined” with the rest, so releasing it in redacted form was “neither feasible nor warranted.” | The Obama administration had argued that it could withhold that document entirely, and in May 2012 a Federal District Court judge, William H. Pauley III, agreed to dismiss the lawsuit after reading the briefing paper, finding that the details of the classified program were “inextricably intertwined” with the rest, so releasing it in redacted form was “neither feasible nor warranted.” |